Van Roekel: “In 2010, it dramatically changed. We didn’t change.”

Is NEA President Dennis Van Roekel admitting the NEA has done nothing to change since the battle over Act 10 in Wisconsin in 2010, and the ensuing attempts to curb monopoly bargaining laws in other states since then?  Do NEA teacher union officials speak for their members?

Mike Antonucci prints some very interesting Van Roekel quotes in Intercepts.  

I embed it here even though I don’t expect many more of you to view the whole thing, but I think it’s worthwhile if you have an interest in NEA’s governance and operations. . . . Van Roekel goes into fundamental detail about NEA’s affiliate interactions, the UniServ program, the Unified Legal Services Program, and the Ballot Measures/Legislative Crises Fund.

. . . I’ve culled some quotes from Van Roekel about NEA’s condition and the world it now occupies. They also serve to confirm some of the news items and situations you have read on these pages over the past two years. They are listed in chronological order as Van Roekel spoke.

* “Other than Missouri… and New Mexico, I don’t believe there was another state that got bargaining rights after ’78.”

* “In 2010, it dramatically changed. We didn’t change. None of us as individuals changed. The mission and vision of the organization didn’t change. But our environment totally changed.”

* “In the states that lost payroll deduction, if I had to make a general rule I’d say they lose about 30 percent of their membership.”

* “We have to quit forming circular firing squads and shooting in. There are enough challenges on the outside.”

* (Regarding what he would say to the 2012 NEA Representative Assembly delegates) “I know you have complaints about Obama. I know there are things that Duncan has done that you hate. Let’s not talk about it right now.”